Teaching a fish to man
“OK, yes, yes, just like that… One foot in front of the other. Lift, bring forward, set down. Shift your weight. There you go. There-oh no no no!” He winced as his companion crashed to the ground, knocking a small table over. She flailed about on the floor, and it might have been a bit comical looking if she wasn’t also starting to cry.
He sighed slightly and helped her back to her feet. Even with her footing regained though, she didn’t move. She just stared at the floor.
“What’s the point?” She asked. “I’m never going to get this.” Her voice was thickly accented, not so much as a consequence of upbringing as not being used to forming words in air instead of water. Not being used to the thinner medium of air as well, she often started yelling without even meaning to.
“Oh come on, you’re doing great!” He said. “It’s only been a few days. You’ve already made great progress in speaking, and you’ve learned how to use the bathroom perfectly!” He shuddered slightly as he remembered the awkward start of their journey and the messes he had to clean up.
“Can’t I just go back?” she asked quietly.
“Hey now, you know you can’t. Not after your transformation. You’ll just drown now.” He grinned at her. “Like it or not, you’re stuck with us dirty humans now.”
Her mouth twitched to a slight smile, and she nodded. He held her arm, and she slowly moved one leg forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment